Mylar on a Seedbox: Comic Book Automation

What Mylar Is

Mylar (sometimes called Mylar3 to mark the Python 3 rewrite) is an automated comic book downloader. Add a series, Mylar watches your indexers for new issues, grabs them through your torrent or NZB client, and renames the files into a tidy library.

Pair it with Ubooquity or Komga for reading. Mylar grabs; the reader presents.

Why Run It on a Seedbox?

Comic releases drop on a regular weekly cadence and you don't want to miss them. A seedbox covers it:

• 24/7 uptime so monitored series get checked
• One-click install
• Same panel as Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, qBittorrent
• 10 Gbit so big runs (full series back-fills) come down quickly
• Storage up to 18 TB on the bigger plans

Installing Mylar

Open the Bytesized Panel, find Mylar in the app catalog, click install. The panel handles the install, the reverse proxy, the URL.

Click "Open" to land on the dashboard.

First-Run Setup

1. ComicVine API key. Mylar uses ComicVine for series metadata. Free API key from the ComicVine site; paste it under Settings > Comic Vine API.
2. Add indexers. Newznab for Usenet and Torznab for torrents. Mylar supports both.
3. Add a download client. SABnzbd, NZBGet, qBittorrent, Deluge, rTorrent.
4. Set the library folder. Standard Bytesized layout is ~/files/comics.

Once that's all wired, search for a series. Mylar shows the run from issue 1 onwards; mark which issues to monitor and Mylar starts working.

Folder Structure

Mylar's default rename pattern produces:

comics/
  Series Name (Year)/
    Series Name 001 (Year).cbz
    Series Name 002 (Year).cbz

That's what Komga and Ubooquity expect; they'll auto-detect series and issues from this layout.

Storyarcs and Volumes

Mylar handles two organisational layers:

• Volumes. A continuous run of a series (often demarcated by reboots).
• Storyarcs. Cross-series narrative arcs that span multiple titles.

Use volumes for normal series tracking. Storyarcs are useful for big crossover events where you want one folder of related issues regardless of which series they came from.

Common Gotchas

ComicVine rate-limited. Free ComicVine keys have a daily request cap. Heavy library scans can hit it; back off, retry tomorrow.

Indexer hits but no results. Some torrent trackers categorise comics weirdly; Mylar expects the standard "Comics" category. Check the tracker's category mapping in your Prowlarr or Jackett.

Issues not matching. Issue numbering varies. Mylar's matcher works best on standard "Series Name 001" releases; specials and one-shots sometimes need manual mapping.

Library scan slow. Large libraries (10,000+ issues) take time to index. The first scan is slow; subsequent scans are incremental.

FAQ

Is Mylar free? Yes. Free and open source.

Will it work with my comic reader? Mylar's output works with Komga, Ubooquity, and Calibre. Same folder structure works for all of them.

Can it grab digital releases from publishers? No. It works through indexers, same as Sonarr or Radarr. You need the right indexers for what you want.

Does it support manga? Mylar is comic-focused; manga is a different content type. There are dedicated manga downloaders (FMD, Tachiyomi server side); Mylar isn't the right tool.

Will it auto-rename existing files? Yes. Library scan with the rename option enabled retitles existing files into Mylar's expected format.

Ready to Set It Up?

Browse Appbox plans, install Mylar from the panel, get a ComicVine API key, point at indexers and download client.